Sunday, June 22, 2008

FRANK!@#$ LOOK WHAT YOU DID

What can I say? Try being stranded for a day because of a storm named "Frank".

F-r-a-n-k-l-y "Frank" is not even a Filipino name. Why did PAGASA name it as such... I don't really know.

Anyway, my goal for the day is to reach Cebu in one piece.

Here are the highlights of my day:

7:30am -- Woke up finding out that there's no electricity (err, nationwide). Followed by the dilemma that I might not make it to my flight at 10:15am (Cebu Pacific) I convinced our adorable house helper to accompany me to the airport regardless of the weather condition and the flooding in our area (Washington, Makati).

9:00am -- Rode the pedicab to avoid soaking in flood water with 4 baggages on top of the vehicle (literally). Taxi to the airport finding out that all flights were cancelled -- alas,it did not stop me from trying.

9:30am -- at the airport | found myself being wet, lining up on a long queue, and being scaled down to a "chance passenger".

People stuck at the Manila Domestic Terminal-A

10:15am to 5:30pm -- Cebu Pacific ground crew told us that by 1:50, they will resume service. Computer systems were down, black-outs were intermittent, and if you were --> it would look like a "hunger strike". Good thing I've made good few friends in those grueling 8 hours ;) Cheers to my newly found friends (Paul, Arvin, etc... you know who you are)

5:50pm -- boarded the plane .... FINALLY. BUT WAIT! It looks like a typical bus-ride since people were standing by the aisle. The in-flight crew informed us that the ground crew were not able to filter passengers due to manually processing flight passes. The result? Pax not belonging to that flight are firmly seated, not giving up their seats even though they are not bound to Cebu lol. Anyways, free one-way tickets were offered to those who were on the wrong flight. Kudos to the captain for bringing peace-and-order through his "Big Brother" on-air voice.

Passengers on the wrong flight

7:59pm -- landed safely. Mabuhay Mactan! It's you once again (this is my second time in Mactan). Hailed a taxi, made friends with the driver, and sprung to Nikkei Hotel Garden. Oh, and I did not miss "Deal or No Deal Around The World: Philippines".

Finally, I arrived Mactan Airport looking groggy due to the stress of everything else that happened at the MLA Airport

The entire ordeal pretty sucks but I must say, I'm glad that I've seen how keen Filipinos are in bringing order at times of disaster. Too bad to those who did not follow instructions (those who did not get chance passenger stubs and did not rebook their flights). I've learned the importance of copin with the problem, not adding to the problem.

Once again, I survived. But I feel sad for the victims of the sunken ship. And it's all because of Frank